r/Bedbugs • • Mar 06 '15

Useful Information Bedbug ID and common misidentifications

600 Upvotes

Bed bug identification resources:

Note: flattened body, rusty brown coloured (less so in younger nymphs, which are more translucent). Thin 4 segmented antennae. 11 segmented abdomen. Short legs (6 of them) and reduced wings incapable of flight.


These are insects or other invertebrates commonly misidentified as bedbugs!

Not bed bugs.

  1. Carpet beetle larvae (Dermestidae) and adult - More Info

  2. Bat bug (Cimex adjunctus pictured) - More Info

  3. Cockroach nymphs - More Info

  4. Tick (nymphs) - More Info

  5. Woodlouse - More Info

  6. Kissing bugs - More Info

  7. Booklice/barklice - More Info

  8. Smooth spider beetle - More Info

  9. Drugstore beetle - More Info

Note: If it has wings or more than 6 legs, it is not a bed bug. Do not mistake antennae for legs, look at the illustrated guide to avoid confusion.


Please comment with any other common mis-IDs and I will add them!


r/Bedbugs • • 6h ago

Identification Please help me identify

3 Upvotes

Just had a site on work get closed for a couple days because they spotted a couple juvenile bedbugs in a high traffic area. I immediately went back home and popped my clothes in the dryer and stripped my sheets and bedding. Just found this guy crawling on my new work bag (the old one has stayed on my porch since the day we got the notice).


r/Bedbugs • • 1h ago

Identification Is this a bed bug?

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• Upvotes

I have a cluster of bites on my arm after a night in a hostel, and woke up to find some of these little seed-like things in my bed. They don’t move and seem dead if they were alive- no crawling or obvious eyes. Weirdly enough I thought I saw them last night when I washed before bed and thought they were literally just… seeds?! From the garden I was walking around in in Birkenstocks that had a lot of foliage on the floor. Now I’m mega stressed that I have bed bugs on me… any thoughts?


r/Bedbugs • • 5h ago

Found 10 tiny black dots spread out on different areas of hotel bed slowly crawling

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2 Upvotes

Hotel told me they aren't bed bugs but I don't know if I trust them. Does anyone know what they might be? Size comparison to finger, they're tiny. Thanks so much.

I would upload the video so you can see the legs moving but it's not allowed here.


r/Bedbugs • • 2h ago

Requesting community support Paranoid about first run in with Bedbug

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1 Upvotes

I was staying at a motel, and had checked the bed and mattress, headboard and footboards for bugs and found no trace. I climbed into bed thinking it was fine, then found this maybe 45 minutes later by my head. I immediately got up, squashed it, and showered and stripped my clothes and threw them out. I washed everything cloth that i brought with me, including a backpack. I was in the hotel for a max of maybe 2 hours, 45 minutes in the bed.

My backpack and clothes were folded up on the desk, I had thrown my pajamas away because I really didn't want them at that point.

What are the chances i brought something home? It's icking me out and is really concerning me. Picture for reference.


r/Bedbugs • • 11h ago

Is this a bedbug or baby roach?

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5 Upvotes

Im in Hawaii on vacation, found this small bug crawling on my suitcase in the bathroom (thats where I keep my suitcase since I stayed in a hotel with bedbugs in the past and got traumatized). I can tell if this is a cockroach nymph or bedbug. There are past reviews of this hotel saying they dealt with roaches.


r/Bedbugs • • 2h ago

Identification Carpet beetle possibly?

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1 Upvotes

I came across this little guy on my clothes and just by looking at it and seeing the segments and coloration I think it looks like it might be a carpet beetle but I’m paranoid so I’m just making absolutely sure


r/Bedbugs • • 2h ago

Just found this crawling on top of the comforter. We literally just washed the sheets and bedding today

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1 Upvotes

Posted on another sub and they said it was a recently fed bed bug. My girlfriend and I don’t have any visible bites on us and we didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary to make us think we’ve been bit. Definitely gonna strip the covers and bag them up, but what are the odds we don’t have an infestation? We don’t see any more bugs anywhere on the mattress. Of course this one could have just layed a bunch of eggs… definitely gonna call the pest control company in the morning. Any other advice on what we can do???


r/Bedbugs • • 2h ago

Could this be from a bed bug? I found it on the bottom of my mattress

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1 Upvotes

r/Bedbugs • • 2h ago

Carpet beetle or bed bug?

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1 Upvotes

r/Bedbugs • • 8h ago

Is this a moult? 🥹

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3 Upvotes

I have giant bedbug anxiety. I just found this on the carpet and I’m spiralling and I want to throw out everything in this house. I’m so paranoid about bed bugs (I have ocd and it’s definitely something that my brain fixates on) and I found this under my daughter’s crib.

I am literally spiralling because an insect app came back saying this was a bed bug but then has since come back with 3 other insect suggestions so I thought I would ask you guys.

Exterminator or not?

I literally don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight with the thought of everybody being bitten 😭


r/Bedbugs • • 3h ago

Requesting community support Is there any way to safely welcome a guest to my home who has bedbugs in their home?

1 Upvotes

My aging uncle is supposed to come visit me for Christmas, and he is very dear to me. However, he is a person with a lot of clutter in his home and he just had an exterminator confirm he has bedbugs in both the couch and bed. This exterminator is only charging $400 and called it a “minor infestation” despite the fact that he has been SEEING them in both rooms which is what made him call. Is there any safe way to have him visit? I am going to suggest he go with a second opinion and higher quality professionals, but I am nervous about his ability to kick this as he is both elderly and has a home crammed with objects. I’m worried for him and his sanity, but that’s another subject…I am wondering if there’s any protocol that would mitigate the risk to my own home. And, as someone who witnessed my best friend deal with this over multiple years, my heart truly goes out to everyone who’s dealing with these nasty guys!


r/Bedbugs • • 7h ago

Identification Is this a bedbug?

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2 Upvotes

r/Bedbugs • • 3h ago

Identification Is this a bed bug?

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1 Upvotes

Found this in my bed but when I moved towards it, it fluttered wings (?). Like it had separate wings it could move.


r/Bedbugs • • 4h ago

Bugs on walls

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1 Upvotes

I’ve seen three of what I think have been the same bug on walls in the apartment. The first was in a bedroom which made me nervous. The other two have both been in the bathroom. I didn’t get a picture until the one I saw tonight. When I smushed the first it split apart in a way that made it seem like it had two wings/shell pieces.


r/Bedbugs • • 4h ago

havent seen a bug but get nocturnal itchiness every night that only goes away when i put diatamaceous earth on my bed. are there any bedbug traps that work for my situation? i dont have a bed frame

1 Upvotes

i dont have any bite marks that im aware of, i only have small red marks that im 99% sure are acne. roommates think it could be fleas but theyre really only a nuisance at night. im scared to even sit in my girlfriends car right now.


r/Bedbugs • • 10h ago

Slightly squished, very suspect

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3 Upvotes

Posting for a friend... Is this what we think it is?


r/Bedbugs • • 5h ago

Requesting community support Crazy bed bug infestation. Need help !!!

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1 Upvotes

r/Bedbugs • • 8h ago

Identification Are these bedbugs? Austin, TX

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2 Upvotes

r/Bedbugs • • 9h ago

Requesting community support Bedbug tips post fumigation

2 Upvotes

Good morning/afternoon/evening ladies and gents. I'm in a little bit of a predicament. I noticed this hellhound of a bed bug back in September.

Thought it came in from the outside, was a little close to my bed so I killed it and let the landlord know about it. This was a Monday I believe and the fumigators were booked for a week later on Monday. I washed dried and sealed all my clothes and had the fumigation done next week. Pre fumigation I also found this guy on my bed and killed him promptly

Post the first fumigation the bed bug bites stopped but then I saw this guy. I've read posts on this sub that say this is normal and that's why we have a second round of fumigation. I understand there's not a lot I can do.

The second fumigation happened last Monday (7 days ago) and last 2 days have been bite city in here. It's almost like the bedbugs came back with a vengeance but I couldn't see any so chalked it up to my mind playing tricks on me? Because I was itchy but there were no bites/redness on my body. But alas, I finally found a little dude with my blood running through their veins. Dispatched him promptly and woke up this morning with a fair bit of redness on my neck and my legs.

Now I am going to let me landlord know ASAP but I'm looking for a few suggestion or tips from your guy's end.

>My mattress has protective cover on it

>> My bed is not against a wall and I only have a metal frame as my bed

>>>All my clothes are still in garbage bags and I am currently living by them without utilizing my cupboards because I am scared

I'm willing to take additional steps but I don't know what they are. I just want to live in peace and your advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

**Edit- I have flipped my mattress multiple times during this ordeal, checked the seams/the bottom and have no evidence of eggs, poop bugs or a colony in general.


r/Bedbugs • • 6h ago

Identification Bed bugs??

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1 Upvotes

Found these three bugs/bug parts around/under my bed. The small/skinny one was still alive and was INSIDE the big half bug. The big one seems like too big to be a bed bug ?? Pen for scale. What do we think? The other one (not the large one or the one found inside) seems like maybe it has wings but hard to tell. Last photo is other side of the big one


r/Bedbugs • • 6h ago

Bed bugs and books

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1 Upvotes

r/Bedbugs • • 11h ago

Identification Is this a bedbug?

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2 Upvotes

Plz help.


r/Bedbugs • • 7h ago

Bedbugs or not?!!sos!!!!!!!!

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1 Upvotes

Please help (I’m not sleeping and I’m crying. I saw two small bugs that look like specks of dust on the floor near the baseboard under the radiator, I took photos. One GPT says they’re bedbugs, the other says they’re booklice. (The photos show two bugs — just different photo options; in some, there’s more flash, in others, there isn’t.)Help!

помогите пожалуйста ( я не сплю и плачу.увидела двух маленьких жучков похожих на соринку на полу около плинтуса под батареей,сфоткала,один гпт утверждает что это клопы,другой,что сеноеды.(на фотках два жука просто разные варианты фото,где то больше вспышки где то нет)ПОМОГИТЕ!


r/Bedbugs • • 7h ago

What are the likelihoods of me actually having bed buds right now?

1 Upvotes

I went to a Thanksgiving dinner knowing that my friend is suspecting bed bugs. I only found out a day prior she was freaking out and ended up at the hospital with a severe panic attack. She never asked for help and then she did so I felt entitled to go. I chilled only in the living room and went upstairs in her room to check the seams of her bed which I didn't see anything. Mind you I don't know what to look for. She said her neighbor checked as well and he said he didn't see anything

She's the only one in the entire house that has any rash. It's on her neck and a little bit on her hand

Her daughter also sleeps in bed with her and her daughter didn't have any

Any but apparently a month ago woke up with similar rash

When I came home I stripped completely naked except my underwears

And bagged the clothes at the front entrance and put it on the balcony

When I went to bed I woke up at 4:00 in the morning with something stinging itching so I itched my arm felt a bump and looked at it and I saw one singular bump

Now I'm stressing out.. cuz I tried to take proper measures so I don't know what the likelihood is of me having it..

By 11:00 a.m. I washed all my beddings and pillows

I'm now washing anything that was in my room on the floor near my bed and he closed. I was on my bed whatever was in the washing room and the clothes that I bagged

I'm really overwhelmed because I don't know what to look for right now. I tried to check the scenes of my bed but there's only so much checking I can do. I couldn't say anything

I have one singular bite or lump on my arm near the fold

I don't know if I'm still at high risk of hiding it. I really don't know. She hasn't seen any in her bed either but still like the coincidence?